Hawaii Schools Join the Food Recovery Challenge

The University of Hawaii at Manoa, Kapiolani Community College, and Hawaii Pacific University are the newest participants in the Food Recovery Challenge. As participants, the Hawaii institutions join over 90 other colleges and universities nationwide in pledging to reduce wasted food. In addition to higher education institutions, other participants include grocers and entertainment venues. Nationally, food waste is the largest type of waste sent to landfills and incinerators.

Environmental Job Training for Communities

The cities of Oxnard and Richmond, Calif., and the University of Arizona are among this year’s recipients of funding from the Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) grant program. The EWDJT supports economically disadvantaged communities in recruiting, training and placing unemployed individuals in jobs that address local environmental challenges.

Sustainability Partnership Successes

In 2009, EPA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Transportation joined to form the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which coordinates federal infrastructure investments to make neighborhoods more prosperous, allow people to live closer to jobs, save households time and money, and reduce pollution. A recent report highlights its accomplishments in the Pacific Southwest.

Six California-based projects have been awarded grants by EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which funds research into new commercial products, processes and services that protect the environment, benefit the public, and promote small businesses.

In cases filed by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Wal-Mart pleaded guilty to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally handling and disposing of hazardous materials at its retail stores across the United States.